My friend Phil grew these poppies. Every spring they would come up and every fall he would give me seeds to plant. This late winter he walked out of his house and died next to the poppy bed. This image is for him, may he reside in a heaven filled with poppies.......RIP. Poppies have been used to honor the dead. For instance take Flanders Field written by John McCrae, May 1915, to honor Lieutenant Alexis Helmer who was killed during the early days of the Second Battle of Ypres. He was a young Canadian artillery officer and died on the second of May. This is the poem:
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

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June 4th, 2010

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Viewed 2,844 Times - Last Visitor from Geneva - Switzerland on 02/22/2019 at 9:22 AM

This is such a beautiful powerful, dramatic image--so respectful of Phil and those fallen soldiers that inspired the poem and perpetual honoring of 'some that gave all'. Congrats on first place in the 2018 Veterans Day Art contest !